Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The Robert B. Parker Cookbook

Tasked with the difficult job of continuing the popular
Robert B. Parker character, Boston based private detective, Spenser,
bestselling author Ace Atkins has continued to hone his grasp on the voice of
this classic character over the course of half a dozen books.

The latest, Robert
B. Parker’s Little White Lies, features ingredients right out of the Robert
B. Parker Spenser cookbook. Take one damsel in distress, mix with a handful of
shady characters and shysters, add a couple of tough guys and a pinch of “true”
love and yield one entertaining story.

Parker was truly one of my favorite authors and I
looked forward to what became the annual rite of passage with the dropping of
new Spenser book with a good deal of zeal. Towards the end of his career/life,
if I am being honest, I found the Spenser series to be waning a bit and I find
similar issues with Little White Lies. While
the story is solid, when it winds down to the ending I found it to be a bit
empty and a little too neatly wrapped up.

For longtime Parker fans the moving of Hawk back to the
front and center of the story and playing a larger (than life) role is a great
move on Atkins part. While it may not be a home runs in every sense, even a
Spenser triple is better than a strike out.